


World Keeps Turning

by Morpheus626



Category: The Pacific (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25062478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: Fic title is taken from the song by Tom Waits.Just a little Sledgefu something, after I sat thinking about the last scene of the Pacific for a bit today.
Relationships: Merriell "Snafu" Shelton/Eugene Sledge
Kudos: 1





	World Keeps Turning

The field is empty and the sun is hot overhead as they walk. 

Eugene’s fingers twist occasionally around his, his eyes flit from tree to tree on the edges of the field, looking for birds, but also a sign that his mind is elsewhere. 

“Ticks bad out here?” Snafu asks, though he already knows they are. How could they not be, in tall grass like this?

Eugene nods as they stop and lay back on the grass. “We can go, if you don’t wanna deal with them.” 

Snafu shakes his head. “Not a big deal. Just wanted to be mindful, in case I see anything crawlin’ on us. Can try and flick it away before it bites.” 

And as he says it he wishes he had kept so much of the war from biting at Eugene, because the bites are so slow to heal, and he can see it as they lay there. 

“Nice, being in cover,” he says gently. “Bet no one would find us here, not even if they tried.” 

But Eugene says nothing, just plucks a flower from the dirt and grass and holds it up, watching the sun filter through the thin, light petals. 

“Would you want us to be found?” Snafu asks. A time will come where he can’t be so gentle, and he doesn’t want it to be now. Not on such a nice day, where they’d both been down but yet enjoying their time. Nowhere in particular to be, no rush to be had. Not a day for the bluntness that might be needed, to cut at the core of what keeps them both, but especially Eugene, awake at night, even though they’ve been home for weeks. 

He can see the wheels turning in Eugene’s head, and waits. He rests his head against Eugene’s chest, and focuses on the sun, the way it beats down and leaves him feeling claustrophobic in the heat of his thick trousers and button up shirt. 

“I’m disquieted,” Eugene says slowly. 

Snafu nods, and continues to wait. Eugene’s mind can be like an avalanche when it gets going, and there’s more coming if he gives it a minute. 

“This won’t last,” Eugene continues. “This peace, if you can call it that. And I don’t rightfully think you can.” 

He twirls the flower still in his hand, staring at it as though he doesn’t believe it’s real. “I just don’t know what comes next. And it doesn’t make me feel only one way, you know? Some days I’m terrified, others I can’t wait for it to get going, to see what else the world can look like.” 

Snafu moves so he can switch it up, can pull Eugene’s head to rest against his chest, an arm around Eugene’s shoulders. 

“And in the middle of it all is me. And you, and everyone we know. And what will happen to us? And what will we do? And how will we handle it?” Eugene’s eyes are still trained on the flower held up against the sun, but they’re looking through it, somewhere else far away. “Will we do the right thing?” 

Snafu nods. “I like to think we will. That’s what we did already, right?” 

“Did we?” Eugene asks, though they both know neither of them can fully answer that. Not now, at least. Maybe later, but not now. 

“Everybody finds the unknown scary,” Snafu says, knowing his words are gauze too small for the hurts Eugene is letting bleed. He knows, because they aren’t gauze enough for his own wounds. “Nothing wrong with feeling that way. Or worrying about it.” 

“But I should be able to plan,” Eugene scoffs. “I should be able to do better, to make sure I do right, to help, to-” 

He lets the flower drop beside him, and cuts off his own sentence, and they both know how he was going to finish it. 

But Snafu doesn’t finish it. He pulls Eugene as close as he can, though he knows it’ll only make them both that much warmer. 

“All you can do is your best,” he manages to reply. “That’s all any of us can do. Because you can’t plan for everything. And you can’t see everything on the horizon.” 

Eugene’s hands end up holding him just as close, resting on his hips as they turn to each other, legs tangled. 

“Do we have to go back yet?” 

They’ve been staying at Eugene’s parent’s home, sharing a room and ignoring any looks sent their way as a result. It isn’t a wholly unwelcome place, but Snafu figures it all comes down to adjusting. 

Them adjusting to their boy being different, bringing home another boy with him no less. 

Eugene adjusting to home, and how, if Snafu had to guess, it will never feel quite like it did before he left it. 

Snafu adjusting to all of it. Being back in the States, but in a new home, with a love he didn’t think he could or would ever have in his life. While his mind wound over and over everything that had happened overseas, like a film reel that never ran out, no familiar click to signal it at a blessed end. 

“No. Figure we can stay out here till the sun goes down. Feed the ticks some. I bet they’ve gone hungry, with all the boys away and not in the fields, hunting and birding and whatnot. Can make it up to them a bit tonight.” Snafu replies. “And then when we get home, can pick ‘em off and make sure we’re both cleaned up. Get us fed too.” 

He doesn’t mention how he isn’t hungry at all, because he knows Eugene isn’t either. But they’ll both try and eat, because it pleases Mrs. Sledge to at least see them pick at the leftovers she leaves in the fridge. And they’ll share the bath, because Eugene’s parents have finally stopped pulling at locked doors, and let them be now. And they’ll help each other dress in nightclothes, and lay in Eugene’s bed that’s almost too-small for the two of them, and wait for sleep that isn’t likely to come. 

And tomorrow, they’ll do something similar all over again. Wander the back roads that Eugene knows, and wait and see what might yet be. 

The sun is lower in the sky now, the heat slightly less suffocating, as he lets a tick crawl onto his hand and latch, keeping it away from Eugene. 

They’ve both been bleeding enough, but he’ll bleed some more for Eugene’s sake.


End file.
